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Resilient Cities

Elaborated by Mariëlle Dubbeling and Edouard Massonneau, RUAF Foundation (2012)
Rooftop agriculture is the production of fresh vegetables, herbs, fruits, edible flowers and possibly some small animals on rooftops for local consumption. Productive green roofs combine food production with ecological sustainability, such as reduced rainwater run-off, temperature benefits such as potential reduction of heating and cooling requirements (resulting in reduced emissions), biodiversity, improved aesthetic value and air quality. Most green roofs designed by architects however do not give attention to the productive potential of the roof tops, whereas green roofs developed by Community Based Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations often take this as the starting point.

SUPURBFOOD, RUAF and ICLEI jointly organised a special Urban Food Forum during the 2015 ICLEI’s Resilient Cities Congress (June 2015, Bonn). The Forum was made up of three sessions that link to the ICLEI’s objectives of creating an urban resilience agenda that joins adaptation, mitigation, disaster, risk reduction, and sustainable, equitable development.

On February 4th 2015, RUAF Foundation participated in the Food in an urbanized world conference organised by the International Sustainability Unit- Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation. Building on this conference, a report on this topic was produced, with RUAF as one of the key contributing experts.

A group of organisations, including the UN FAO, the International Sustainability Unit-Prince of Wales Charity Foundation, the CFS-Civil Society Mechanism, Communitas Coalition, Global Food Security Cluster-Urban working group, ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability, RUAF Foundation, IUFN, UCLG, ILO, IFAD, UNCD and Habitat International Coalition jointly organised at the World Urban Forum a session on city region food systems.

In October and November 2013, five webinar sessions built on key themes from Resilient Cities 2013. The webinars continued conversations initiated at the congress and anticipated new directions and innovations in 2014. The webinars were free of charge and featured experts and local government practitioners in the field of urban adaptation and resilience.

The ICLEI Resilient Cities Congress 1 June 2013 featured for the first time a special one-day food systems forum for urban stakeholders to come together to discuss and put into action the implementation of resilient food systems within cities around the world and to generate heightened awareness and strengthened political commitment in local governments in order to create resilient urban food systems. The Forum was co-organised by ICLEI, Plantagon, RUAF Foundation, IUFN, WeltHungerHilfe and other organisations.